Marathon You Can Do It

I was reading a running shorts review on runners world that featured eight running shorts. One interesting aspect of the shorts is the names, without the word shorts next to them you wouldn’t know what they are. Some of the names would be mistaken for: fish oil, ammunition, sports team, sports drinks.

1. Mens Nike Pinnacle Shorts

2. Mens Hind Omega Shorts

3. Womens Adidas Adistar shorts

4. Womens Moving Comfort Endurance shorts

5. Mens Brook sharper

6. Mens Under Armour Pacer shorts – This was the best name

7. Women Zoots sports Ultra run shorts

8. Womens New Balance Mira Shorts

Read the full reviews at runners world

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Adidas Adistar, Ammunition, Armour, Endurance, Fish Oil, marathon runners, Marathon Running, Moving Comfort, Names, New Balance, Nike, Nike Shorts, Omega 3, Pacer, Pinnacle, Runners World, Running Shorts, Sports Drinks, Sports Team, Team Sports

It’s definitely a special experience. It’s about seeing and testing your limits. Winner 2010 Surf city USA marathon.

20,000 runners took part in 2010 Surf City marathon along the seaside streets of Huntington Beach. The Orange County Register posted some awesome photos from the race.

Checkout more surf city marathon photos at register gallery

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Checkout, City Marathon, City Photos, City Pictures, Huntington Beach, Marathon County, Marathon Photos, Marathon Pictures, Marathon Race, marathon runners, Orange County Register, Photos Gallery, Photos Pictures, Race Photos, Surf City Usa, Surf Gallery, Surf Photos, Surf Pictures

Apple Iphone has 140,000 applications, and still counting. Wading for your perfect application can be a headache if you don’t know what you are looking for, this list makes it easier to find applications dedicated for runners. Just type the name of the application on apple search box and you shall find it.

Trailguru Application for runners

Trailguru, this Iphone application records your distance, speed, and time as well as details such as how many stops you made, how long they were, your elevation, and statistics on your runs.

RunCalc Iphone Application for runners

RunCalc. Novices as well as experienced runners will enjoy using this app that calculates the pace and speed of your runs when you enter the time and distance.

Can Do 26.2 Iphone Application for runners

Can Do 26.2.will help you find any marathon in the US, can register you for the race, provides links to the races’ websites, and can tell you if the race is a Boston Qualifier.

Fitnio Iphone Applicationfor runners

Fitnio Application tracks your runs, it calculates and stores time, distance, and calories burned for each run and even keeps an emergency button with a friend’s number programmed in case you need help during a run.

Distance Meter Pro Application for Runners

Distance Meter Pro. Get distance, speed, a route map, and more with this GPS distance tracker that can be used in conjunction with TrainingPeaks.com.

Aerobicview Iphone Application

AerobicView application has over 40 attributes including distance, speed, calories, heart rate, and notes.

Imapmyrun application

iMapMyRun application allows you to see maps or your runs and synchronizes with your workouts on MapMyRun.com. If you Twitter your runs, you can do so straight from this app.

Runchart application

Run Chart. Customize routes and times as you track your runs and information about them. This app works great with your music, so you can listen to your playlists while you run.

Iphone Runners Applications that cost money

Pedometer Iphone Application

Pedometer. For only $2.99, this application probably works better than most old school pedometers that cost more money.

RunKeeper. Record your speed, pace, elevation, and more for each run as well as maps of your runs. This app is free with ads or $9.99 without ads.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Apple Iphone, Apple Search, Application Records, Attributes, Boston Qualifier, Calories Burned, Conjunction, Elevation, Emergency Button, Headache, heart rate, Iphone, Maps, marathon runners, Pace, Playlists, Route Map, Search Box, Time And Distance, Workouts

Carlsband marathon happened yesterday and a field of 8000 marathon runners did the half and the full Carlsbadn marathon.

I checked the cyber space for some great pictures form Carlsband marathon and I found them at North county times site. See the images here

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Cyber Space, Images Pictures, Marathon Photos, Marathon Pictures, marathon runners, North County Times, Photos Images, Photos Pictures

23,000 marathon runners hit the streets of Hawaii for the 2009 Honolulu marathon. I don’t know why this race is so popular with Japanese runners, 15,000 of them ran the race.

A lady, Honolulu photographer, who lives along the Honolulu marathon route took some awesome photos, from the images you would have been forgiven if you thought the images were of Tokyo marathon. The Japanese were all over.

The Honolulu marathon picture below (see the Sign inside) must have been spotted at the 20 mile mark. A point when most runners are dazed & hungry and might not tell the difference between Vaseline & Butter!

For more honolulu marathon photos visit honolulu marathon photographer

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amp, Hawaii Honolulu, Honolulu Marathon, Honolulu Pictures, Marathon Photos, Marathon Pictures, Marathon Race, Marathon Route, marathon runners, Photographer, Photos Images, Photos Pictures, Pictures Images, Race Images, Race Photos, Tokyo

Runners planning to run a race should pay attention to their nutrition during the last week before planning to run a 5k , 10K , half marathon or a full marathon.

Nutrition last week before the big race

Increase your daily intake of carbohydrate, particularly whole grains, fruits and vegetables, during training. An increase in daily protein intake is also recommended, with the balance coming from dietary fat.

Carbohydrate is the major fuel used during training, and both carbohydrate and protein may help facilitate muscle recovery.

Practice fluid and carbohydrate intake, both as water and sports drinks, during training so that you are comfortable with the procedure during the marathon. Know the sport drink that will be used in your marathon, and train with it. You may also wish to experiment with carbohydrate gels (some contain caffeine; see comment below on Running a faster marathon); if the marathon provides gels at points on the course, try to experiment with the specific brand.

P.S. Remember to take plenty of sleep during the week so that, even if you don’t sleep on the eve of the race, it won’t matter.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Carbohydrate Intake, Daily Protein Intake, Eve, Fruits And Vegetables, half marathon, marathon runners, Muscle Recovery, Nutrition, Running Marathon, sleep, Sport Drink, Sports Drinks, Train, Whole Grains Fruits And Vegetables

The following groups are eligible for guaranteed entry to the ING New York City Marathon.

• Members of New York Road Runners, who completed at least nine NYRR-scored, qualifying races, and who have volunteered for one event, during the calendar year.
• Entrants in the ING New York City Marathon the previous year who canceled prior to the race.
• Those who have completed 15 or more New York City Marathons.
• Those who have applied but been denied entry for the last three years in a row
• Runners who meet the following NYC marathon qualifying time standards.
• Charity runners : Runners who commit to raise money for charities listed by organisers.
• Guaranteed entry for overseas runners, (For those who live outside the United States) Guaranteed entry along with the purchase of a marathon package may be available through an Official International Travel Partner [ITP] in your country or territory.

Source ; ING New York Marathon Official Site

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Calendar Year, Charities, Ing New York City Marathon, Ing New York Marathon, International Travel, Itp, marathon runners, New York City Marathon, New York City Marathons, New york marathon, New York Road Runners, Nyc Marathon, Nyrr, Overseas Runners, Previous Year, Qualifying Races, Time Standards, Travel Partner, York City Marathon, York Road Runners

In a New York Times article it was reported that in 2008 NYC marathon 46 runners were disqualified for having taking a short cut to the finish line and an untold number of runners escape detection, marathon officials said.

Mary Wittenberg, the race director, called the number of cheats shocking.

Shortcuts methods at NYC marathon

According to the organisers the two most common form of cheating are

1. Stepping off the course and rejoining it closer to the finish, often sneaking into Central Park once they enter Manhattan near Mile 16.
2. Participants running with someone else bib. According to 2008 records, a 19-year-old in the field gave his bib to someone five years older, and that person posted the best time in the 18-19 division.

The biggest reason or motivation of taking a short cut is to secure a coveted qualification time for the Boston Marathon

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Best Time, Bib, Boston Marathon, Central Park, Finish Line, Manhattan, marathon runners, Motivation, New York City, New York City Marathon, New York Times, Nyc Marathon, Organisers, Participants, Qualification Time, Race Director, Shortcuts, Wittenberg, York City Marathon, York Times Article

2009 Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon. I finished in a time of 2:57:29, one minute slower than 2008…..a rather disappointing race.

Pre Race

I travelled from Embu to Nairobi on Saturday. When I arrived in the city I realised I had forgotten my racing short back home and I had to buy a new short. Luckily I had arrived early and I had time to go shopping and buy a new Reebok short.

A friend of mine was working at the marathon secretariat and he invited me to the offices. The lifts at the building were not working and I was forced to walk up nine floors.(what a waste of my energy)

Instead of staying in a hotel I stayed at the home of my childhood friend Alex who lives a walking distance from Nyayo Stadium, the start and finish area of the marathon. Alex and his girlfriend Miriam were running the half marathon.

The Race

The first kilometres were fast. I had trained to run at a pace of 4 minutes a Kilometre. I had hoped to see a 5K mark and calculate whether I was within my pace but I never saw any markings of distance. In the runners guide it was indicated there would be markings every 5K but this was lacking on the course.  SHAME ON THE ORGANISERS! Without markings I just followed the fast moving crowd and made my own mental estimates.

As usual my breathing was hard at the start but I knew things would get better and easier the longer I kept running. After 1 hour of running my breathing never got easier, I guese I was running faster than my planned pace. After 1 hour 15 minutes we hooked up with the half marathon crowd and the course now got more crowded. I found myself weaving from side to side trying to overtake the half marathon runners.

I got back at Nyayo stadium at 1 hour 35 minutes, at this point the half marathon runners headed towards the finish line while the full marathon runners were supposed to repeat the circuit. After parting with the half marathon crowd, I looked ahead of me and shocked to see an almost empty road, it was clear many of full marathon runners had decided to drop out of the race at that point. The idea of repeating the circuit was too bitter to swallow for many runners!

Doing the second circuit was hard because I was running alone. It is at this point when it started raining and I remember at one time I thought………this sucks am done with marathons!……… Although my legs were feeling fine my chest was having a harder time. Make no mistake, I wanted to go faster…I would look at my watch and say ok legs, lets speeeeedup! and I would think I was going faster, but then I would check the watch a little while later and, nope, no faster!

After 2 hours and 10 minutes of running I got at the final turning point and I was now on the home stretch. At this point I could feel the smell of fresh bread from a bakery on the route. The smell of bread induced a feeling of hunger. I started having this imagination of eat a post race meat pie. I guese I was getting delusional!

As the clock hit 2.40, the finish line was out of sight and it was clear my goal of 2.45 finish was way way out of reach. My target now was to atleast match my PB.At this point I met up with Miriam, my friend’s Girlfriend. The half marathon was proving too hard for her to handle. As I overtook her she tried to run after me begging me to wait for her……….I just couldn’t…nothing personal!

Luckily for me a determined young lady who had an elite badge on her chest caught up with me at this point. I chased her tooth and nail. Although it was physically hard on me she kept me on my toes. She was my white knight, she pulled me to the end. We crossed the finish line together at 2 hours 57 minutes 26 seconds. Uh! what a relief. At least I stayed under 3 hours.

After The race

My recovery has astonished me. Two days after the race and am feeling like I can run another marathon next weekend.

With the 2009 Marathon gone I can’t wait for next year. 2010 I will have another opportunity to get a crack at it. 2.45 is my target.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: 15 Minutes, Childhood Friend, Crowd, Embu, Finish Line, Friend Alex, Girlfriend, half marathon, Kilometre, Kilometres, Marathon Results, marathon runners, Miriam, Nairobi, Organisers, Reebok, Running Marathon, Secretariat, Shopping, Stanchart Marathon, Standard Chartered, Walking Distance

Long time among ago I loved Nike running shoe but I fell out of love with Nike the day I bought my first Saucony Running shoes.

I still think Nike shoes are good for racing but when it comes to marathon training I prefer Saucony.

Latest Nike LunarGlide+ Shoe.

NIKE, Inc. have introduced the Nike LunarGlide+ Race Collection to celebrate the brave achievements of marathon runners worldwide.

The Nike LunarGlide+ Race Collection features nine shoes that combine city-inspired design touches.

The collection includes shoes for Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, London, New York City, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo along with a shoe for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco.

Nike is celebrating the unique individual flavour of the world’s top marathons with color and iconic imagery that represent each city.

They have  a Nike Lunarglide shoe for men and a Nike Lunarglide shoe for women.

If your city is not on that list, DONT BUY THE SHOE……off cause am kidding!!!!!!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing, Boston Chicago, Flavour, Honolulu, Imagery, Long Time, marathon runners, Marathon Running, Marathon Training, Marathons, New York City, Nike, Nike Inc, Nike Running Shoe, Nike Shoe, nike shoes, Nike Women, Rio De Janeiro, Saucony Running Shoes, Saucony Shoes